


No Rest for the Wicked

by NightSkyWriter



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves is Alive, Gen, Good Brother Ben Hargreeves, Good Brother Diego Hargreeves, Good Brother Klaus Hargreeves, Good Brother Luther Hargreeves, Good Brother Number Five | The Boy (Umbrella Academy), Good Sister Allison Hargreeves, Good Sister Vanya Hargreeves, Hurt/Comfort, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Sibling Bonding, The Commission
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-10-01
Packaged: 2020-06-29 15:29:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19833109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightSkyWriter/pseuds/NightSkyWriter
Summary: “Go,” Five said. He was somewhat surprised when everyone, except Luther and Ben, started to walk off. “And I mean it," he called after them, "act like kids. Anything changes, the Commission will find out.”“Five?” Ben asked, bringing his attention back to the siblings who stayed behind. “Are you—"“I’m fine,” Five snapped, harsher than he intended. He sighed. “Go.”Luther and Ben shared a look before heading off for their rooms.Five shook his head.He forced a Jump to his room and nearly collapsed.--When the seven time travel at the end of s1, they find themselves in 2004 and in 15-year-old bodies. Trying to keep the timeline intact, the seven Hargreeves act like their younger selves. It's not as easy as they'd hoped.[ON HIATUS]





	1. You Took A Wrong Turn (Now You're Stuck in My World.)

**Author's Note:**

> Work title from "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked" by Cage the Elephant  
> Chapter title from "This is My World" by Esterly (Feat. Austin Jenckes)

Klaus had seen a lot of funky stuff during his lifetime - dead people, a talking monkey, the abilities of his siblings, his fifty-eight year old brother looking like a kid, etc. It was enough to make him a bit non-chalant about the blue light that floated above him now or the chunk of the moon that was hurdling through space at, well, Earth.  
  
He tightened his hands around his siblings’ even before Five yelled for them too.  
  
He could feel Ben’s hand on his shoulder.  
  
A glance at Ben made him blink. Why did Ben look so young? Ben looked just as confused as Klaus felt, but Klaus didn’t get a chance to ask why.  
  
“Hold on!” Five yelled. “It’s gonna get messy!” Klaus whipped his head back around to Five.  
  
Messy?  
  
The ground jerked out from under his feet.  
  
He hadn’t been on many amusement rides, but if a rollercoaster was anything like this, then he didn’t want to get close to them.  
  
They spun head over feet. He couldn’t tell which way was up. Was there even an up in Five's blue void? Maybe he should’ve asked more questions.  
  
Luther’s hand tightened around Klaus’s Klaus could feel the bones in his hand grate against each other. He tried to yelp but the sound was swallowed by the blue that surrounded them. How could a color swallow a sound?  
  
Before Klaus could figure that one out, he faceplanted.  
  
The air left his lungs in a sharp whoosh. He gasped in a breath and Luther’s hand suddenly let go.  
  
A glance over at Luther almost had him swearing to never even drink again. His mind blanked as he pulled himself up to his knees. The world tilted slightly, and his stomach didn’t feel so good.  
  
But Luther…Luther was small. He looked like he had when they were fifteen. So did Vanya. She was still unconscious from the looks of her. Luther stared at his free hand, the other still supporting Vanya.  
  
The gloves were gone and even as a kid, Luther had been bigger than all of them, but now Klaus could only see him as small. He was nothing like the giant that'd stood beside Klaus in the theater seconds before.  
  
And they were both in their Academy uniforms. They all were.  
  
Klaus turned to Allison.  
  
She was staring at him with wide eyes and a hand over her mouth. Wait, no, she was staring _past_ him.  
  
“Ben,” she whispered.  
  
Impossibly, her eyes got even bigger. Her hand moved to her neck. She could talk. There wasn’t a bandage on her neck or even a scar.  
  
Klaus checked over his shoulder to where she was looking and…oh.  
  
Ben gaped at Allison. She-she could see him.  
  
Klaus reached out, expecting his hand to go through Ben’s chest. It didn’t.  
  
He could touch him. He could touch Ben!  
  
Ben felt warm. He felt _alive._  
  
_Holy sh—_  
  
Allison pushed past Klaus and tackled Ben with a hug.  
  
Klaus watched, unable to move. His breath shook and he could feel his heart beating too fast in his chest. Ben was back.  
  
A small sound stole Klaus’s attention.  
  
He turned to Diego. Diego’s eyes were shut, and he looked green.  
  
“Diego? You okay there, bud?” Klaus asked. Diego hissed out a breath and Klaus scooted away. He remembered Diego traveling with Five on spatial jumps when they were younger. Being puked on wasn’t on his to-do list.  
  
Klaus’s gaze found Five’s.  
  
Oh.  
  
Five’s eyes were unfocused, and blood trickled down in face from his nose.  
  
“Nice outfit,” he muttered to Klaus. Klaus barely had time to understand what Five had said before he keeled forward and hit the ground with a thud.  
  
“Five?” Klaus muttered, crawling over. He lifted Five’s head into his lap, but Five didn’t react. “Five? Five, you okay, man?”  
  
_Stupid question. He obviously wasn’t okay._  
  
“Vanya?” Someone asked. It took Klaus a second to recognize the voice as Diego. Wow, he sounded _young._  
  
Klaus tapped Five’s face, but he didn’t move.  
  
He looked up, searching for Ben, but no. He was still with Allison.  
  
“She’s fine,” Luther said. “Still out.”  
  
“Diego, help me with Five,” Klaus said. His voice was clearer than he thought it would be. Diego’s gaze flickered over to Klaus then to Five who, yeah. Okay, he was breathing. Diego came closer and put two fingers to Five’s neck.  
  
“He’s fine. Just passed out.”  
  
Klaus relaxed slightly. But Five was still too pale. The blood stood out against his face and it was already staining the collar of his shirt.  
  
Diego cleared his throat, but his voice was still too high when he spoke again.  
  
“Where are we?” Diego asked.  
  
Klaus forced himself to look away from Five and he did a quick survey of their surroundings.  
  
He recognized it but like he recognized an old picture or a memory.  
  
Familiar but old.  
  
Tall buildings and trees surrounded them.  
  
They were in a park. The park that was destroyed years ago to make room for the theater.  
  
A poster that was stapled to a tree caught his attention.  
  
It showed them as kids; masks and uniforms in place.  
  
Klaus shook his head. No way.  
  
Five’s plan had worked. They were in 2004.


	2. Oh Brother, We Run Deeper Than the Ink Beneath the Skin of Our Tattoos.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Title from "Brother" by Kodaline. (It's a great song that fits the Hargreeves very well)

Diego stopped as they neared the mansion and looked up at it with pursed lips. Had he not been holding Five, Luther was sure he would be fiddling with one of his knives. Diego glanced back at the others.  
  
“We can’t go in there carrying these two. Not like this,” Diego said.  
  
Luther tried to shift as little as possible as he came to a stop.  
  
He didn’t want Vanya to wake up yet. Especially with him carrying her. She, uh, probably wouldn’t like him for a while. Scratch that, she definitely wouldn’t like him for a while. And she had every right to be mad at him. Hell, he was mad at himself.  
  
He’d been wary about being the one to carry her at all, but she didn’t look like she was going to wake anytime soon and the only other sibling who was capable of holding her was carrying Five.  
  
For Diego’s sake, Luther hoped Five didn’t wake up soon either. He wouldn’t appreciate being carried bridal style.  
  
Five would probably stab Diego with one of his own knives.  
  
Diego wasn’t as gentle as Luther as he came to a halt. Five’s head lolled off Diego’s shoulder and hung at an angle that made Luther inwardly grimace. Five’s neck would probably be sore and he, of all people, didn’t need anything more to complain about.  
  
Judging by the look Klaus shot Luther, he was thinking the same thing.  
  
“Do you have another idea?” Allison asked. “And it better not be sneaking in through a window.”  
  
A woman passed them on the sidewalk and gave them a long look before walking faster.  
  
Diego rolled his eyes.  
  
“Yeah.” Diego lowered Five’s feet to the ground and held him up like Five was only using Diego to lean on. “We go in like this. Dad won’t think anything of us leaning against each other, but he will ask questions if we’re carrying them.”  
  
Luther nodded his head. It did look more natural.  
  
Luther moved Vanya, so he was carrying her the same way Diego had Five.  
  
It was easier with them all being similar heights as fifteen-year-old kids. There was no way any of them could drape an arm across Luther’s shoulders when they were in adult bodies. Especially Vanya; even in fifteen-year-old bodies, Luther was much taller than her.  
  
“Their feet will drag,” Klaus pointed out. Diego frowned.  
  
“Do you have a better idea?”  
  
“No, I just figured you’d like to know.”  
  
Allison rolled her eyes. Sheez, maybe eye-rolling was just a family trait.  
  
“Okay.” Luther looked up at the mansion and for the first time in his life, he didn’t want to go in. “Ready?”  
  
He looked back at Klaus and Ben.  
  
They shrugged in sync.  
  
Ben had really been spending too much time with their strangest brother.  
  
And that was saying a lot considering the knife-thrower, the fifty-eight-year-old assassin, and the man with monkey DNA were all in the running. But, well, Klaus was weird.  
  
Luther turned back to the mansion and did as any good Number One would do.  
  
He led them inside. 

They ran into Reginald as soon as they walked through the door.  
  
He stood at the top of the stairs and looked at them with a frown.  
  
“Number One,” he said. Luther stood straighter before he could stop himself. “Why are you all on this side of this house. You are to be training.”  
  
“I—”  
  
Reginald’s eyes landed on Vanya his eyebrows furrowed. He walked down the stairs.  
  
“Why is Number Seven with you? What’s wrong with her?”  
  
Luther exchanged a look with the others. Their eyes were wide like they’d been caught, and to be fair, they had. Allison even shook her head at Luther.  
  
Thanks for the help.  
  
Luther turned back to Reginald and opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t come up with anything.  
  
“There was an accident,” Luther heard someone say behind him and he looked over his shoulder.  
  
Five was leaning heavily on Diego. He seemed to be standing until Luther noticed Diego’s hand around Five’s waist, still holding him up. If he was talking, that, at least, was a good sign.  
  
They’d gotten the blood off his face, but it was still on his shirt collar.  
  
Luther hoped Reginald wouldn’t see it.  
  
“Vanya came in while Allison was in the middle of a Rumor. She heard the tail end and it…” Five trailed off and Diego stumbled slightly. Ben discreetly reached out and helped Diego hold Five up. Luther did a double take. Five had passed out again mid-sentence.  
  
Luther quickly turned back to Reginald before their father could notice Five’s state.  
  
“We don’t know what’s wrong with her,” Luther finished, turning back to Reginald. “Have you seen Mom?”  
  
Reginald continued frowning and Luther absently wondered if the man had any other expression.  
  
“I believe she’s in the kitchen.”  
  
“Thank you,” Ben said. When the other didn’t start moving immediately, he started shoving them towards the kitchen. Their father gave them another confused look.  
  
“I expect you back in training after you take care of Seven.”

They didn’t go back to training.  
  
Luther watched Mom walk around the infirmary humming a chipper tune. It was hard not to stare. He hadn’t thought he’d ever see her again. Luther hadn’t ever been close to Mom – not like Diego, but it still hurt to know she’d died. She must have noticed him staring, because she shot Luther a smile. He looked away.  
  
One of the tables held Vanya who was still out cold. Their mother didn’t seem too worried, but then she never did.  
  
The only chair in the room was occupied by Five who leaned against the wall with his eyes shut. Luther wasn’t sure if he was awake or not.  
  
“Your sister is going to be just fine,” Mom said, removing a blood pressure cuff from Vanya’s arm. She glanced over to Five. “Did he get Rumored too?”  
  
Luther felt his eyes widen. Before they could stop her, Mom was over by Five with a hand to his forehead. Luther tensed waiting for him to bat her away, but the attack never came. Well, it seemed he was out after all.  
  
“He did too many jumps,” Ben said, without looking up from Vanya. It was a poor explanation, but it was also Ben. No one would accuse Ben of lying.  
  
A confused look appeared on her face as Mom stepped away from Five. She quickly replaced the look with a smile. She turned to the rest of them.  
  
“Would you like to eat? Dinner shouldn’t be much longer. We should leave Vanya and Five to rest.” The others answered in small voices while their mother walked out of the infirmary, Diego on her heels. Allison, Luther, Ben and Klaus shared a look before following.  
  
“Meeting in my room,” Luther muttered to Klaus who happened to be closest. Klaus relayed the message to Ben and Luther watched as it was whispered to the other two. Allison glanced back at Luther with a small nod. Diego was so focused on Mom that Luther wasn’t sure he’d received the message.  
  
Luther sighed. 

Allison, Klaus and Ben all managed to sit on Luther’s bed and still had extra space. Their eyes were sharp and expecting.  
  
Diego had chosen to stand to the far wall, flipping a knife in hand. It was an annoying habit, but Luther knew if he said anything Diego would only do it more.  
  
He was starting to regret being the leader.  
  
Awkward silence filled the room as Luther tried to figure out what to say.  
  
He felt too much like he had when he explained the apocalypse. But this time Ben was here, so that was nice. He kinda wished Five would fall from the ceiling again. At least it’d distracted the others from asking Luther too many questions Luther couldn’t answer.  
  
“Alright, big guy,” Diego said, sheathing his knife. “What’s the plan?”  
  
“First of all,” Luther said, “I think we should wait for Five before we make any major decisions.” Diego started to object but Luther continued. “We made too many mistakes last time we left a sibling out of the decisions and the moon ended up killing all life on Earth. I don’t think we should make the same mistake again. Secondly—”  
  
“So are we waiting for Vanya too?” Diego interrupted.  
  
Luther shot him a look. Diego wasn’t defending Vanya; he was looking for a fight.  
  
“No, Diego, I’m saying we need to wait for Five—”  
  
“No, Luther.” Diego pointed a finger at Luther’s chest. “You don’t have a plan.”  
  
Luther gritted his teeth.  
  
“Do you have a better idea?” Luther asked.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ben face-palm.  
  
“Yeah, I do.” Diego turned to face the others who still sat on the bed looking exasperated. He took a deep breath and Luther assumed he was giving himself time to come up with something. “I say we wake them up.”  
  
There was a moment of silence before Allison, Klaus and Ben all started talking at the same time. It quickly escalated to yelling and Luther suppressed a groan. Just because they looked like kids didn’t mean they had to act like it.  
  
“Shut up!” Luther said, louder than all of them. He bit down on his tongue. He didn’t mean to be that loud. Oops. But he had their attention for a second. “I may not have a plan, but I know one thing for certain. Dad cannot know that we’re thirty-years-old.”  
  
Klaus scoffed. “Did you see how distracted the old man was? I think we could flat out tell him we’re all thirty – with exception of Five – along with predictions for the next lottery and he wouldn’t give a sh—”  
  
“The point is,” Allison interrupted leaving Klaus looking offended, “we need to figure out what is going on before we do something irreversible.” She gave Klaus an amused look. It was moments like this that Luther was reminded that she was literally a mom. “Telling our father we’re from the future would be pretty irreversible. For now, we all need to act like our 15-year-old selves. We can figure the rest out later. Okay?”  
  
They agreed with varying degrees of compliance.  
  
Ben was the first to stand and move for the door.  
  
“Where are you going?” Allison asked. When Ben didn’t react, Klaus spoke up.  
  
“Ben, she’s talking to you.”  
  
Ben stopped and glanced back, looking momentarily shocked before he hid it.  
  
“I’m going to sit with Vanya and Five.” He noticed all of them staring at him and reddened. “I don’t want them to wake up alone.”  
  
Allison nodded, and Ben was gone.  
  
  
  
****  
  
  
  
Ben’s eyes scanned the words on the page. He hadn’t thought he’d ever savor the feeling of turning a page but, here he was smiling every time he got the chance.  
  
He’d been in the infirmary for a few hours. The sun had set before he’d moved on to the current book and he had a tall stack beside him that he planned on reading before the sun came back up. He’d been dead for years – he wasn’t planning on getting tired anytime soon.  
  
He was almost nostalgic listening to the clock tick on the wall. Too many nights had been spent with him keeping a silent vigil in the infirmary, waiting for one or more of his siblings to wake up after a bad mission. He never got injured on missions – no one ever got close enough to hurt him – but each of the others did.  
  
Then, after he’d died, it was a never-ending vigil but entirely focused on Klaus.  
  
At some point after dinner, Luther had come down and moved Five from the chair and Vanya from the table to the many empty beds. The others came down soon after Luther, one at a time. Klaus had stayed the longest. They'd talked until Ben had almost convinced himself that it was another normal day in 2019. Just Ben and Klaus against everyone else. But then Klaus's eye lids started to droop and even though he denied it, Ben knew what Klaus looked like when he was tired. Klaus had gone to bed at Ben's insistence. Diego and Allison sat with him for a while. Then the silence became too heavy and they left too.  
  
Each had seemed at loss for words when it came to Ben being alive again, but their confusion wasn’t even close to his. He’d spent twelve years dead. He wasn’t going to get used to being alive again in only a few hours.  
  
He flipped another page.  
  
Five and Vanya had always been quiet sleepers but tonight, it unnerved him. He’d lived around Klaus for twelve years and now the silence was suffocating.  
  
Even when he slept, Klaus was loud. In all of Ben’s days -- alive and dead – he’d never met anyone as loud as Klaus. His snores were so obnoxious Ben sometimes woke him up to tell him to shut up. Klaus never remembered it the next day.  
  
He smirked.  
  
Ben glanced up again to make sure his siblings’ chest were still moving.  
  
He decided he didn’t like sleeping people. They were too still. Too quiet. Too… dead.  
  
As he was starting to return to his book, movement caught his eye.  
  
“Vanya?” He asked. His voice seemed to echo. He was starting to think he’d imagined it when she turned to him. Her eyes widened and Ben put his book down.  
  
“Ben?” She asked. She started to sit up and groaned, reaching for her head. Ben jumped to his feet.  
  
“Easy,” he said, walking over. “You passed out a few hours ago. Try not to move much.” He helped pull her up. He quickly crossed his arms and tried not to stare at her. It wasn’t easy with her flat out staring at him.  
  
After a moment, she stood.  
  
Ben started to stop her. He _just _told her to take it slow. All of his siblings had always been a bit dense. They ignored his warnings all too often and- Vanya startled him from his thoughts by wrapping him in a hug.__  
  
“Oh,” Ben muttered.  
  
He hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.  
  
“Am I dead?” She asked.  
  
“No. You’re very much alive.”  
  
“Am I dreaming?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“How are you here?”  
  
A dozen different explanations went through his head, each worse than the last. He went with the simplest.  
  
“The combination of Five’s powers and Klaus’s brought me back."  
  
She pulled back. “Oh?"  
  
"Yeah, we're not sure how that happened... But cool, right?" Ben laughed.  
  
A low sound caught Ben's attention and he glanced over Vanya's shoulder. In the other cot, Five turned and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like 'shut up.' Vanya covered her mouth to stop from laughing and but Ben didn't bother. Too many nights, Ben had been woken by a blue light followed by Five turning on lights and talking about science. Most of the time it was well after 3am. And so what if that was over fifteen years ago? Ben had a long memory.  
  
Ben looked away from Five and turned his attention back to Vanya.  
  
"Why do you look like a kid?" She asked, lowering her voice slightly. Ben didn't know how to answer that. Like, yeah, the answer was simple -- time travel. Okay, maybe not so simple. But she'd blown up the moon just a few hours ago and he didn't want to stress her out. He decided to do what he did with Klaus. Tell the truth then deal with the consequences.  
  
"We....time traveled."  
  
Vanya gave him a look. "What?"  
  
"Five brought us all to 2004. Something about projecting our consciousnesses backwards in time to versions of ourselves that were present in 2004 made us all look like teenagers. I don't know, he'll need to explain it."  
  
Vanya nodded. He didn't know why, but Vanya always seemed to take things a lot calmer than his other siblings. It was nice.  
  
"We'll talk more tomorrow, 'kay?"  
  
Vanya nodded again and Ben wondered if she was taking it as well as he'd thought. She got back in the bed and Ben picked up his book, easily finding his page.  
  
"I missed you," she whispered after a moment. Ben smiled.  
  
"I missed you too."  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please hit that kudos button :D  
> All comments are greatly appreciated! <3


	3. The Dark (is) Taking Prisoners Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "Ode To Sleep" by Twenty One Pilots

When Five woke up, he instantly regretted it. He reached a hand up to his head as if that’d help the throbbing headache promising to split his head in two.  
  
He gritted his teeth.  
  
Last time he’d time traveled; it hadn’t been this bad. Yeah, he’d gotten a small headache – key word being small – but it hadn’t been incapacitating. But, then again, last time he’d de-aged thirty some years, so maybe he should be grateful that didn’t happen again.  
  
He pushed himself up and off the cot, placing a stabilizing hand against it. The bed barely squeaked, but Five winced at the noise anyway.  
  
It reminded him of a hangover. Every noise too loud. The only sound that was ever permissible was Delores’s voice. Somehow her voice had a way of making the hangover go away. But she wasn’t there. The bed was. And it squeaked.  
  
He looked away from it.  
  
Ben was asleep in a nearby chair and Five sighed. Yeah, he was happy his brother waited for him – and Vanya too by the looks of her – but Five had told him so many times not to. Ben had a bed upstairs and staying in the infirmary didn't make sense. Not in the long run.  
  
When he’d taken them all back, he hadn’t expected Ben to come back with them. Not alive anyway.  
  
Five had found Vanya’s book in the apocalypse. He’d faced the fact that he’d never see Ben again. Or at least he faced it as much as he could.  
  
This was one time he was happy to be wrong.  
  
Because Ben was alive.  
  
Movement beside him stole his attention away from Ben.  
  
Vanya turned in her sleep, whispering something he couldn’t understand. After a second’s hesitation, he stepped closer.  
  
“Vanya?”  
  
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, face contorted in an emotion Five couldn’t name. “I didn’t mean to—”  
  
Five didn’t know what to do. When they were younger, Ben or Mom would take care of this kind of thing.  
  
He was an assassin, a time-traveler who spent over thirty years in the apocalypse and yet one of his siblings having a nightmare was enough to stump him. Five shook his head. Not happening.  
  
Five reached out a hand and placed it on Vanya’s shoulder.  
  
“It’s alright, Vanya,” he whispered. He cringed slightly. He didn’t know what he was doing. Vanya quieted anyway and she didn’t push him away, so he guessed that was a good sign. “Everything’s alright.”  
  
When Vanya relaxed, Five stepped back.  
  
He looked up at the clock on the wall.  
  
5 am.  
  
Five sighed. He’d sent them back in time, but who knows how far. If the others physical age was anything to go by, it was probably the early 2000’s. If so, Reggie was still alive.  
  
Five almost laughed.  
  
He’d spent most of his life in the apocalypse just because he tried to escape this stupid house and everything it held and now, he was back. It’d almost be funny if it wasn’t so freaking messed up.  
  
Five called his powers to him and blue surrounded his hands. He could feel the pull of his destination.  
  
The pain in his head skyrocketed. It felt like a grenade had gone off in his brain and the shrapnel imbedded itself everything it found.  
  
The blue around his hands died and Five bit back groan.  
  
It’d wake up the others and their voices did not have the calming effect like Delores.  
  
Five could feel the cold infirmary floor beneath his knees, but didn’t remember deciding to fall. He held his head like it’d fall apart if he let go.  
  
He gritted his teeth and waited for it to pass.  
  
Eventually it dulled and Five stood, holding on to Vanya’s cot.  
  
Okay. Jumping was not an option.  
  
Before Vanya or Ben could wake up, he stumbled out of the infirmary. He could make it to his room the normal way. 

Within minutes, Five had found the chalk he kept hidden in his room.  
  
Within hours, he’d almost run out.  
  
The sun was starting to come up when Diego barged into his room, knives drawn. Most of the chalk covered the wall in basic equations.  
  
Diego gave Five a look that was between worry, confusion and annoyance.  
  
“What the hell, Five?” He asked, putting away his knives.  
  
Somewhere down the hall, someone – probably Allison, yelled, “Did you find him?”  
  
Whoever it was, Diego ignored them, turning his attention to the wall. “What is this?”  
  
“It’s called math. You’re probably not familiar.”  
  
Allison came around the corner before Diego could reply.  
  
“What the hell, Five?” Allison demanded. Five rolled his eyes. Leave it to his siblings to be oh so original. “Are you okay? Mom said you shouldn’t be up yet.” She lowered her voice. “What if Dad would’ve found you? What would you have said?”  
  
“I covered the story yesterday when you all couldn’t. I’d do it again.” Five stepped off the bed and gave his siblings a look. He actually didn’t remember much of what he said the day before much less if it was understandable.  
  
Five resisted the urge to hold his head as his headache spiked again. Allison and Diego blurred for a second and Five blinked, focusing on them again. If just stepping off a bed was enough to aggravate his head, Five wasn’t looking forward to the next few days.  
  
“Five?” Allison asked. He blinked again. Her eyes were worried, and she looked about to step forward. Five forced himself to stand straighter and wave her off.  
  
“I’m fine.”  
  
“Sure,” Diego muttered, rolling his eyes.  
  
Five ignored him. “Is Vanya up yet?”  
  
Diego shook his head. “No. But you gave Ben a heart attack when he couldn’t find you.”  
  
As if on cue, Ben ran into the room. His looked at Five and relaxed slightly.  
  
“What the hell, Five?” He snapped.  
  
Before Five could comment on their repetitiveness, Ben lurched forward, wrapping Five in a hug.  
  
Five froze before slowly returning the gesture. He knew he was putting too much of his own weight on Ben, but it wasn’t like he had another choice. And Ben wasn’t complaining.  
  
“Holy shit,” someone muttered in a mock whisper. “He is capable of giving a hug.”  
  
Five tensed and Ben let go. He shot a disproving look over his shoulder.  
  
“Really, Klaus?” Ben asked. The look was so practiced, Five assumed he made it often.  
  
Klaus shrugged, but he was smiling.  
  
Five chose not to say anything and straightened his jacket. He turned back to his equations.  
  
“With it being Vanya it seems killing the perpetrator is out of the question,” Five said. “But she’s just the bomb. A bomb won’t go off unless its set to. There must be a trigger, a fuse.”  
  
“Yeah. Gerald Jenkins.”  
  
Five sighed. “Harold, Diego. Harold Jenkins. And yes, but no. We can stop Jenkins, but there’ll just be another trigger. We need to make sure Vanya isn’t a bomb. Right now, she has powers she can’t even begin to understand—”  
  
“I don’t think she even knew what she was doing at the cabin,” Allison said. At the mention of the cabin, Diego’s hand balled into a fist, Klaus crossed his arms and even Ben looked down.  
  
Just the mention had Five’s chest filling cold dread. He pushed it away and nodded.  
  
“Exactly. The only way to prevent the apocalypse is to teach her how to use her powers.” And convince her not to kill all of them. The last part was omitted. Five sighed. His headache was about to get so much worse, but he had to share the plan with all of them. He turned to Allison. “Where’s Luther?”

“You want her to use her power?” Luther asked. He looked away from where Five stood and to the others who were scattered across the couches. “That’s too much of a risk. We can’t—”  
  
“It’s only in training,” Five said, rolling his eyes. He instantly regretted the motion when his headache spiked. He barely stopped a wince before continuing. “All of our powers are dangerous and yet we managed to get to the point we have without destroying the world.” He pointed to Luther before he could say anything. “Vanya doesn’t count. That hasn’t happened yet.”  
  
“Um, actually, with you traveling to the apocalypse it kinda did,” Klaus pointed out. Five gave him a look as if to say, Which side are you on?  
  
Klaus just shrugged.  
  
Five sat down, pressed a hand to his head. “Okay then, make a plan, Luther. What’s the alternative to teaching her? Because locking her in a cage obviously didn’t work,” Five didn’t bother keeping the venom from his tone.  
  
Luther at least looked ashamed. “That was only temporary.”  
  
“Thank goodness locking our sister in a cage was temporary,” Diego muttered, shaking his head.  
  
Luther ignored him. “Dad gave her those pills that stopped her powers, right?”  
  
“You want to drug her?” Five snapped. He pointed to Klaus. “Look what drugs did to him!”  
  
“I agree with Five. That’s an awful idea,” Klaus said. Then he grinned. “But to be fair, I was always like this.”  
  
Five shook his head.  
  
Luther tried again. “No, I don’t want to drug—It’d be her choice—”  
  
“That’s it,” Diego said, cutting him off, “you don’t get a vote.”  
  
Five sighed as the two broke out in an argument. Idiots.  
  
He glanced at one of the clocks on the wall. Their ‘free time’ was almost over. Mom would be coming to get them to do their classes soon.  
  
He hated being treated like a child, but at least the others had to deal with it too. Really that thought brought him too much joy.  
  
“Five?” Allison asked. Five looked up. “Are you alright?”  
  
Five frowned, nodding.  
  
“You look pale – like more than normal.”  
  
Five waved her off. “I’m fine.”  
  
They all looked the same age now, why was she still treating him like he was so much younger?  
  
Allison looked like she wanted to say something more, but seemed to decide against it.  
  
The other two were still arguing and Klaus and Ben were whispering something to each other that Five couldn’t hear.  
  
“Shut up!” Five snapped. Luther and Diego shot him identical annoyed expressions. For all of their arguing, the two were too much alike. Maybe that was the problem.  
  
Five stood, and nearly stumbled. He grabbed onto the arm of the sofa behind him and tried to look casual even when his head rebelled against, well, everything.  
  
“Five,” Klaus said, rubbing his nose pointedly.  
  
Five ran the back of his hand under his nose, and it came away wet with blood. He gave Allison a look.  
  
“I’m fine. It’s just the time travel.” He straightened before she could say anything. “We don’t have much time left before Mom comes. Here’s what we’re going to do. Act like our fifteen-year-old selves. I don’t care how difficult it is, we’ve all done harder. I don’t want to hear any complaints. You all were here last time; when is the next mission?”  
  
Luther thought for a second. “I don’t remember… After you left, we didn’t get any for almost a month.”  
  
Five sighed. “Fine. Dad shouldn’t call us for missions anytime soon—”  
  
An alarm blared through the Mansion and Five quickly covered his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. Why was it so freaking loud???  
  
“Are you kidding me?” Five hissed under his breath. His luck had never been good, but a mission this early?  
  
He felt a hand on his shoulder and flinched away. He opened eyes to Luther standing next to him, quickly taking his hand back.  
  
“Five, are you alright?” Luther asked. Five forced himself to move his hands and nod.  
  
“Go,” Five ordered. He was somewhat surprised when everyone, except Luther and Ben, started to walk off. He called after them, “And I mean it. Act like kids. Anything changes, the Commission will find out.”  
  
“Five?” Ben asked, bringing his attention back to the siblings who stayed behind. “Are you—"  
  
“I’m fine!” Five snapped, harsher than he intended. He sighed. “Go.”  
  
The two shared a look before heading off for their rooms. Five shook his head.  
  
He forced a Jump to his room and nearly collapsed.  
  
He reached out, grabbing his bed post. A string of curse words ran through his mind. They didn’t have time for this. His current state would definitely stand out too much in the time continuum. The Handler would be looking for anything.  
  
Five shook his head.  
  
No, the mission would go normal. Even without his powers, he would be fine. He’d been an assassin for years, he didn’t need his powers. Not against whatever thugs Reginald had decided to send them after this time.  
  
Five changed into the suit they used to wear on missions – did Reginald purposely make them uncomfortable? – before meeting the others out in the hall.  
  
Ben and Klaus were already by the stairs, whispering. Old habits die hard.  
  
Luther, Diego and Allison’s doors were still shut.  
  
Five glanced at Ben and Klaus.  
  
It was unnerving seeing them as children. Like nothing happened – the apocalypse, the Commission, the apocalypse part 2. Five almost understood why they were so confused when the saw him.  
  
But at least he wasn’t treating them like children even though he was decades older than them.  
  
Behind him, Luther walked out and Allison and Diego were soon after him.  
  
Five put on his mask.

The bank wasn’t too far from the academy. All six jumped out of the car and split up. Their old patterns were too easy to fall back into. Luther went to the roof, Allison walked in through one of the many doors and Five didn’t bother to watch the rest.  
  
He sighed.  
  
Normally, he’d just jump in, but, well, that wasn’t an option.  
  
Five chose to follow Allison. Her entrance was the most reasonable.  
  
The hostages were all collected to the side, two of the robbers watching them. Another three were behind the counter and a few more were scattered around.  
  
Five rolled his eyes.  
  
The ‘missions’ they were given as children were almost comical in their ease.  
  
Allison started the show.  
  
She walked up to one of the robbers and tapped him on the shoulder. He had told them to act fifteen, but he still almost laughed at the familiar sight.  
  
_“I heard a Rumor—” _The robber hit her with the butt of his gun and she hit the ground hard. Five felt his eyes widen – people didn’t move during a Rumor.__  
  
Five looked to the man’s ear. He had bright orange ear plugs in. The robber didn’t hear her. They were prepared for them.  
  
The robber turned his gun on Allison. She wasn’t paying attention to them.  
  
Shit!  
  
Five ran at the robber. He kicked his gun away and what happened next was a blur.  
  
In the end, the man was on the ground in a growing pool of blood.  
  
Well. There goes the timeline.  
  
Allison stood. Her jaw was already starting to bruise.  
  
“You alright?” Five asked. She nodded.  
  
Five almost winced for the robbers. Allison was pissed.  
  
The robbers started shooting and Five groaned. He dropped the gun and covered his ears.  
  
Too loud. It was all too _freaking _loud.__  
  
Using his powers never did this. Something was wrong. Something was so, so wrong. Each gunshot echoed in his head. He couldn’t think. Part of him knew he should be stopping them or at the very least watching his back. He couldn’t. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t—  
  
“Five!” Allison yelled, shaking his shoulder.  
  
He forced himself to look at her. Everything was blurring, tilting. Five blinked, and she slowly came into focus.  
  
During his time in the Commission, he’d been shot, stabbed, drugged, and many other things he couldn’t concentrate enough to remember, but none of it had been as bad as the pain pounding in his skull.  
  
But he did what he did with all the other pain he’d felt in his life. He shut it down. Or at least he tried.  
  
“I’m fine, Allison,” Five said.  
  
Five hadn’t lied much in his lifetime, but when he did, he was usually good at it. That one was so disappointingly unbelievable that he was almost ashamed of it.  
  
Five glanced to the others. They weren’t faring much better – Luther was surrounded by too many of the robbers, Diego was favoring his right arm and throwing with his left instead, Klaus hands were glowing and Five almost stopped to gape at the number of ghosts Klaus had managed to summon.  
  
And Ben? Five frowned. Ben was standing beside Klaus fighting off anyone who came to close.  
  
And he was fighting with his fists.  
  
Five wanted to hit something.  
  
“Ben!” Five yelled. Ben looked over his shoulder at Five. “Do it!”  
  
Five was happy he didn’t have to elaborate. Ben released the Eldritch monsters.  
  
The tentacles immediately grabbed three of the robbers.  
  
Five did a quick tally. There had only been eight robbers a second ago, but now there was easily double.  
  
Five almost cursed.  
  
The robbers weren’t there for the money or the bank – they were there for the Academy. Luther and Diego didn’t think this was a mission worth remembering?  
  
Five grabbed the dead robbers’ gun and suddenly the robbers weren’t anything more than targets.  
  
They fell, one after another. His head pounded with every shot, but it didn’t matter. His siblings needed him and whatever his problem was he could deal with it later.  
  
Behind him, Five heard Allison fighting someone. He didn’t worry about it – when they were younger, Allison had been the best hand-to-hand fighter, much to Diego’s chagrin.  
  
She had it under control. Plus, an angry Allison wasn’t someone he’d want to fight. These lowlifes didn’t have chance.  
  
Five pulled the trigger and another robber fell.  
  
“Stop him!” One of the robbers yelled. It took Five too long to realize they were talking about him.  
  
“Five, behind you!” Klaus yelled.  
  
Too late.  
  
Before he could turn, Five felt an arm snake around his neck. He was lifted off his feet. He couldn’t Jump and his hits were anything but effective.  
  
His vision started to turn black at the edges.  
  
He saw Klaus take a hit to the back of the head. The ghosts disappeared.  
  
That was the last straw.  
  
Five pulled his knee up and kicked it back.  
  
He nearly smiled when he heard a satisfying _snap _.__  
  
He didn’t smile when the man dropped him. His head hit the ground with a not-so-satisfying _crack ___  
  
The already blurry world dipped and swayed.  
  
He couldn’t feel the floor beneath him or the blood dripping from his nose and down his face. He didn’t even feel one of the robbers pick him up.  
  
All he could feel was his head.  
  
threatening.  
  
to.  
  
explode.


	4. Seasons Change But People Don't.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "The Take Over, the Breaks Over" by Fall Out Boy

Ben didn't believe the world was a fair place. Good people die and bad people profit. Yet, when Reginald disappeared into his office the minute they returned home, Ben decided their were good things too. Office doors for instance. They saved him from having to remember Reginald's existence.  
  
Ben looked to his siblings.  
  
For the first time since they’d arrived, the look in their eyes actually resembled kids. The confidence each of them had gained was replaced with looks of confusion and fear.  
  
They looked lost.  
  
Allison shook her head and started to walk off. “I’m going to find Vanya."  
  
That got Luther’s attention, but he didn’t say anything.  
  
As soon as Allison was gone, Ben started a silent countdown. It seemed every time Luther and Diego were in the same room together; an argument broke out.  
  
Ben was at eighteen when Luther started to walk off.  
  
“Where are you going?” Diego asked.  
  
Luther glanced over his shoulder. “My room.”  
  
“So that’s it?” Diego shook his head. “Fine. Go on. Wait for Dad to come up with a mission for you to go on.”  
  
Luther turned, giving Diego his full attention. “We need a plan, Diego. The only way we’re going to get one is for me to—”  
  
“Your plans? Your plan at the bank is what got us in this situation in the first place.”  
  
Ben crossed his arms and stopped listening. For fifteen years all he’d done when they’d gotten into arguments was watch. He wasn’t in the mood to start trying to fix their issues now.  
  
Klaus and Five were both missing, and Luther and Diego wanted to argue. Typical Hargreeves. Ben sighed and looked over to the stairs.  
  
They didn’t need him for the argument.  
  
He started up the stairs, taking two at a time. His siblings’ voices faded the further he walked. That was one benefit of the house – noise didn’t travel. Reginald probably built it that way on purpose.  
  
Instead of going to his own room, Ben stopped in Five’s.  
  
The room looked the same as it had in 2019. Everything was the same except for the chalk-covered wall. Math and symbols were scrawled across every free space. Most of it was scattered without organization save for the occasional haphazard square that encased a few math problems.  
  
Ben stepped up on Five’s bed to get a closer look.  
  
The code Five used was familiar. It was one he used when they were children. He had taught it to Ben once, but Ben couldn’t remember it anymore and judging by the occasional foreign symbol, it’d been bastardized during Five’s years away.  
  
It was as good a place to start as any.  
  
Ben jumped off Five’s bed and checked around his room.  
  
Five had chalk stashed everywhere and most of his books were on physics and mathematical theories.  
  
Ben checked under the bed and grinned. Jackpot.  
  
He pulled out one of the many notebooks and opened it to an unmarked page.  
  
  
  
Six hours later, Ben had nothing.  
  
The math was easy enough to figure out, but he couldn’t understand how Five was using it. He was manipulating the formulas, using them in a way that they most certainly weren’t supposed to be used.  
  
Ben put his notebook to the side and stared at the wall with his arms crossed.  
  
At some point, his siblings had decided to stop arguing, or at least the yelling had stopped. Time didn’t matter to them, not when arguments were involved.  
  
At least Allison didn’t join the arguments anymore. Maybe she’d even Rumored them into stopping. That’d be nice.  
  
A light knock at the door got Ben’s attention. He sighed but didn’t move from where he sat.  
  
“I’m not getting involved in your argument,” he called through the door.  
  
After a moment of silence, a small voice said, “What argument?”  
  
Ben frowned and moved to open the door.  
  
Vanya’s eyes were still rimmed in dark circles, but she looked better than she had the night before.  
  
“Luther and Diego,” Ben said as an explanation. He stepped back so Vanya could come into Five’s room. “They’ve been arguing since we got back. How are you?”  
  
“Mom said I’m fine.” She glanced up at the walls and crossed her arms. “Have you found anything?”  
  
Ben sighed, shaking his head. “I have no idea what any of it means.”  
  
“There’s Five for you.” She moved closer to the wall, analyzing it. When they were younger, Ben had seen her give the same look to her sheet music.  
  
“Allison told you?”  
  
“Yeah.” She looked down, biting her lip, before turning back to him. “We’ll get them back.”  
  
Ben nodded then laughed. “They might just give those two back to save themselves the trouble dealing with them.”  
  
Vanya’s laugh was watery, but Ben considered it somewhat of a win. Klaus and Ben had used the tactic a lot when Ben was a ghost. When the situation was so twisted that it was a dark convoluted mess anything could be funny.  
  
Ben enjoyed talking with Vanya, but he wanted Klaus to at least be there. He’d always been there.  
  
“Ben…” Ben crossed his arms and looked back to Vanya who was scanning the walls. She pointed at a series of numbers on the wall before looking at him. “These are coordinates.”  
  
“What?” Ben moved closer. The numbers were surrounded by a tight square, separating it from the equations around it.  
  
  
  
Ben and Vanya ran down the stairs. They’d always been the quietest of the seven, but at the speed they were going, it sounded more like someone had pushed a bunch of bowling balls down the stairs to see which would hit the bottom first.  
  
They found Allison, Diego, and Luther in the living room.  
  
Diego was stretched out on one of the sofas, twirling a knife in his hand and Luther claimed the other. He sat in the middle and seemed to curl in on himself in an attempt to take up as little space as possible. It looked so wrong, but then at the size Luther had been, Ben guessed it made sense.  
  
Allison sat in one of the chairs, armed crossed. She watched the two of them with hawk-like eyes.  
  
At least the bickering had stopped.  
  
Diego flipped his knife into the air before catching it again. “Welcome back, Ben. Thought you’d—”  
  
“I think we found Five and Klaus,” Ben said before Diego could finish.  
  
The trio looked at Vanya and Ben.  
  
“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed!  
> This chapter was a bit shorter than the others, but I've been busy recently and wanted to give you all something XD  
> Also, it's like super late here, so if you see any typos or mistakes, please drop a comment.  
> Thank you all <3


	5. This Battle is Never Through

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title from "This Battle is Never Through" by Oh The Larceny  
> This has taken forever to post and I have no excuse 😂  
> Happy Birthday, Hargreeves!!

The others didn’t wait for a destination before they were all in one of the academy’s many cars. Luther was in the front seat, but other than him, Ben didn’t know where the others ended up. Ben sat in the backseat, crowded by two people he couldn’t identify in the dark.  
  
“Which way?” Luther asked, turning on the vehicle.  
  
There was the sound of a map being opened followed by someone turning on the passenger’s light. After a moment, Vanya relayed the directions.  
  
Ben had to fight to hide a grin. Vanya had taken shotgun? From Diego and Allison? If Klaus had been there, Ben knew he’d be making too many obnoxious jokes. But then, Ben didn’t need them to be amused. He could feel Diego tense beside him.  
  
“How’d you get the front seat?” Diego asked. “You’re the smallest.”  
  
Ben leaned back to get away from Diego’s elbows. “Technically, Five is the smallest.”  
  
Even in the dark, Ben could feel Diego’s glare.  
  
“I’m the second biggest – I should have the front,” Diego said, ignoring Ben.  
  
“Klaus is taller.” Ben wasn’t sure if it was spending over two decades being dead or the tone Diego was using but annoying him was oddly therapeutic.  
  
“Klaus isn’t here.”  
  
“Guys, it doesn’t matter,” Allison said. Klaus had complained to Ben about the mom voice, but until she used it on him, Ben didn’t really understand the effect. Ben turned to her even though they couldn’t see each other. “How far are we, Vanya?”  
  
“About five—” Luther hit the gas to speed past a traffic light before it turned red, “—four minutes.”  
  
“Alright, what’s the plan?” She asked. Ben frowned. After living with Klaus, Ben had nearly forgotten plans were an option.  
  
Diego was the first to speak up.  
  
“We go in quietly, find them, get out. No one sees us. Easy-peasy.”  
  
“Or—” Luther began, but Diego quickly interrupted him.  
  
“Actually, no. I’ll go in alone. All of you are too obvious. Especially the big guy.”  
  
Luther sighed before continuing. “Diego, this is exactly why I’m Number One. We work as a team; you know that. We all go in together. I’ll lead, then Allison, Ben, and Diego. We shouldn’t run into—”  
  
“You forgot me,” Vanya said, looking up to send Luther a look. Ben winced. Annoying Diego was one thing, but they didn’t need a pissed off Vanya right now.  
  
“You’re not going in,” Luther said. Ben resisted the urge to slam his head into his headrest. Repeatedly.  
  
“Vanya is coming,” Ben said at the same time Allison said,  
  
“Yes, she is.”  
  
Diego chose that moment to add, “This is why you shouldn’t be Number One.”  
  
Ben chose to ignore that.  
  
“Guys, if Vanya comes with us she could get hurt—”  
  
“I am right here, Luther,” Vanya said, putting down the map in favor of glaring at Luther. Ben didn’t think he imagined her eyes turning white. “I have powers and I received the training you all did! I am going with you.”  
  
“Vanya—”  
  
“We lost Five once; I’m not going to sit by and let it happen again!”  
  
Ben heard Luther’s jaw snap shut. Vanya shut off her light, and sat back in her seat. No one spoke for a moment.  
  
“We lost Klaus too,” Ben eventually said.  
  
“Klaus got into drugs,” Allison said. “He was gone, but it was different. He was always around. Five time-traveling—”  
  
“Klaus time-traveled too,” Ben said, crossing his arms. “But then, you all didn’t notice that, did you?” Ben didn’t mean to let the venom drip into his tone, but he didn’t regret it either. “You didn’t notice he time-traveled- Hell, you didn’t even notice he’d been kidnapped.”  
  
The car jerked to the side at the word ‘kidnapped,’ before correcting.  
  
“What do you mean kidnapped?” Luther demanded.  
  
Ben started to uncross his arms before deciding against it.  
  
“The people that broke into the house? Hazel and Cha-Cha? They took Klaus. None of you noticed Klaus had been—”  
  
“I did—” Diego began.  
  
“No, you didn’t. Klaus told you. That doesn’t mean you noticed.” Ben could hear different ones starting to talk, but he ignored it. “Oh, and Klaus wasn’t lying when he said he was clean. But all of you almost convinced him to go right back to it.”  
  
“Wait,” Allision said. “Klaus time traveled?”  
  
Ben nodded. “Yes.”  
  
“Where to? When did he—”  
  
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me.” Ben bit his lip. He didn’t enjoy lying, but he’d boxed himself in. Of course, Klaus told him, but Ben didn’t believe it was his to tell. No matter how loud he acted, Klaus was private. It was up to Klaus when to tell—  
  
“I think it may have been the—” Diego hesitated, and Ben hoped he’d shut up. “—Vietnam War?”  
  
The car burst into chaos and Ben decided to stop talking.

  


By the time they reached the destination, Ben’s ears were nearly ringing. Allison was offended no one had told her about Klaus, Luther was wallowing because he should have noticed, Diego was mostly quiet, and Vanya had yelled for the others to shut up so loud that a nearby streetlamp had bent.  
  
Ben was just happy to be out of the car.  
  
The mechanic garage they’d shown up at was old. The roof had caved in and most of the windows were shattered. A faded sign creaked as it swung back and forth.  
  
Ben shot Vanya a look and she shrugged. It was where the coordinates led, but this wasn’t what he’d expected.  
  
“Alright,” Diego began, “you guys wait out here, and I’ll be back.”  
  
He started off for the building but Luther was quick to reach out and stop him. Ben rolled his eyes.  
  
“We’re going together.”  
  
“How many quiet operations have you lead, Luther? Because the way I remember it, most of our missions involved you throwing someone out the window.”  
  
“Just because you play vigilante it doesn’t make you a—”  
  
“Guys?” Vanya said. “They're not in there.”  
  
Ben didn’t know how she managed to get Luther and Diego to shut up, but he absently wondered if that was her true power.  
  
She pointed to a building a little way away from the garage. It was smaller, but it was still a good size. A little bigger than a house. While the garage was made of tin, this building was made of brick. Vines had claimed most of the siding and were climbing the roof. Despite its apparent age, it still looked sturdy. Every window was barred and high off the ground. It took Ben a moment to recognize what it was.  
It was an old jail.  
  
***  
  
Klaus watched the seconds tick by on a nearby clock. The room – scratch that – _cell _, had been quiet since the robbers left. Klaus hadn’t caught much of what they said, but it mostly consisted of them debating why anyone would pay for someone to abduct a bunch of kids. Klaus let them talk without interruption at first. If they thought they were ‘just a bunch of kids’ it could work towards their favor. He let them talk until they mentioned their employer, but they left soon after.__  
  
The ghost in the corner let loose an unholy screech that made Klaus jump.  
  
“What is wrong with you?” Klaus demanded, giving the woman a harsh look. The only ghost Klaus had seen smile was Ben, but this one looked pleased with herself.  
  
Klaus glanced over to the only other living person in the room.  
  
Five had barely moved, much less made any noise. He’d been out the entire time.  
  
Blood had dried on his chin and, going by how long he’d been out, Five had hit his head hard. Klaus was fairly sure he’d kicked Five in the chest when one of the woman’s sudden screams had woken Klaus up, but hopefully Five wouldn’t remember.  
  
Klaus closed his eyes and leaned back against the bars and tried to block out the woman in the corner.

____

It was a few hours before Five woke up. Klaus didn’t notice he was awake at first; over the ghost’s screaming and having his eyes shut, he had good reason to not notice.  
  
But Five seemed to disagree.  
  
After Five got his attention, Klaus glanced over at him. Five was bloodier than a many of the ghosts Klaus met and that alone was a bit unnerving. And unlike other occations, this time Klaus knew the blood _was _Five's. His eyes were still dazed, and he kept blinking. He leaned against the cell bars, mirroring Klaus.__  
  
“How long?” He asked.  
  
Klaus shrugged. “Few hours?”  
  
“What did you learn about the robbers?”  
  
“Not much. But, you know your know your friends, Hazel and Cha-Cha?” Klaus asked.  
  
“Hazel ran off with the doughnut lady and Cha-Cha is gone,” Five said. “Why would they be here?”  
  
“It’s not them.”  
  
Five gave Klaus an incredulous look. “Then what the hell do they matter?”  
  
Klaus rolled his eyes. “They’re in the same group. That Commission. I heard Hazel and Cha-Cha talking about it, you talked about, then these people brought it up too. It may not be the same but—”  
  
“It is.” Five held onto the bars and pulled himself to his feet. The color drained from his face and he squeezed his eyes shut. “How many?”  
  
“Only three have come in here.”  
  
“Hmm.”  
  
Klaus tilted his head. “Time travel, huh? It’s funny; I don’t remember it affecting me like this. Any of the times.”  
  
Five shot him a glare. “ _You _weren’t the briefcase.”__  
  
He pushed himself away from the bars as if the annoyance of Klaus’s statement gave him the energy to stand on his own.  
  
“If they are with the Commission, Temps Corp or at least a Representative should have been here by now.”  
  
“Only the robbers have come in.”  
  
Five nodded. “They’ll be here soon.”  
  
Outside the door, one of the robbers bumped into something hard. The sound was closely followed by a string of curse words.  
  
Five’s shoulders tensed as the door opened. 

____

____

***

When she was younger, Allison thought the amount of arguing her and her siblings partook in was normal. Just being siblings. Then she left and realized how wrong she had been. And yet, when they all got together, the habit came back.  
  
After a moment of bickering, Allison, Diego, Vanya and Ben followed Luther.  
  
The door was blocked by a few boxes that Luther quickly pushed aside before pulling the door open.  
  
Inside was nothing like what she expected. It looked like it had been remodeled for whatever the robbers needed.  
  
White florescent lights lined the ceiling and the cinderblock walls had been painted white. The floor was littered with different bags, each one color coded.  
  
“The robbers were carrying yellow bags at the bank,” Diego whispered. Allison barely kept from glancing back at him. He always remembered the most trivial parts of the mission that everyone else forgot or simply didn’t notice in the first place.  
  
As the hallway ended, Luther turned the corner.  
  
“Don’t you think we should have seen someone by now?” Vanya asked. Allison shrugged.  
  
“They could have left?” Luther said. Allison doubted that and judging by his tone, so did Luther.  
  
“Or it could be a trap,” Diego added, hopeful as ever. “Wanting us to get too far in. However, if you four went back and I continued—”  
  
“We’re not going back, Diego,” Ben said. “Give it up.”  
  
Before Allison could tell them to shut up, gun shots echoed down the hall.  
  
"Shit!" Diego hissed. He rushed past Allison with Ben close on his heels.  
  
"Diego, no!" Luther shouted, stealth forgotten.  
  
Allison hurried after them. She could hear Luther and Vanya behind her.  
  
She followed the sounds of the fight. Left, right, left, right, right.  
  
The firing ceased and Allison stopped trying to keep track of the hallways.  
  
She turned the next corner and came to a sudden stop.  
  
Klaus and Five were in the hallway, flanked by Ben and Diego.They both had pistols pointing at Allison but they quickly lowered them upon recognition. Both were covered in blood, but it didn’t seem to be theirs.  
  
Luther and Vanya caught up and came to a stop beside Allison. “How’d you—" Allison began, but Klaus quickly interrupted.  
  
“Remember how Five used to switch out criminals weapons for staplers and stuff? He got the keys,” Klaus said. “And their guns.”  
  
Five shrugged. There was something weird about seeing someone shrug while covered in blood.  
  
"Alright," Luther said, "Five, can you jump us out of here?"  
  
Five gave Luther a look. "My spatial jumps aren't exactly _reliable _right now."__  
  
Behind them, Allison could hear people yelling followed by the sound of people running.  
  
“We need to move,” Five said. “Now.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this at three in the morning.  
> I hope you enjoyed XD

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm hoping to update in the next few days but I figured I'd give this to you all now! I hope you enjoyed! (Don't forget to leave a kudos! Comments are always appreciated! <3)


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